Bleeding from the nose (naasagata rakta pitta is the ayurvedic term) is a common problem faced by most of us during the summer. If you have regular bleeding on one side of the nose, which happens any time without warning, you can attribute it to the weather, physical exercise, sneezing and having a cold.
If you are over 50 with frequent nose bleeds, it is advisable to get yourself checked for blood pressure, as the raised blood pressure damages the walls of the blood vessels, causing them to rupture and bleed copiously.
Self-Help Guidelines
• Sit upright in a chair and stay as quiet as possible. Do not tilt your head backward. Keep it in normal position to allow the blood to flow out from the front of the nose rather than down the back of the throat.
• Applying cold compresses or ice cubes above the nose or across the bridge of the nose will also help control the bleeding.
• If you are a smoker, then it is high time for you to stop smoking.
• Don’t expose yourself to dry atmosphere. Air-coolers and air-conditioners are the best as they maintain some humidity in the air.
• Be careful in choosing oral contraceptives, as they can increase nose bleeds. Also, watch your aspirin and salicylates intake, as they can interfere with clotting.
Ayurvedic Remedies
• Fine powder of alum (spatika/phitkari) along with cow ghee, instilled in the form of nasal drops, will stop bleeding.
• A small amount of camphor, dissolved in the juice of green coriander leaves, and dropped into the nostrils, stops the bleeding quickly.
• Soak 20 gm of dried aamla in water overnight and strain in the morning. Drink this water and apply the paste of aamla on the forehead and around the nose after grinding them to a paste.
• Red sandalwood (rakta-chandana), liquorice (yashtimadhu/mulethi) and cobra’s saffron (naagakesara) act as good styptics. Take them in equal parts. Make them into a fine powder and take 3 gm of the same internally, with a glass of milk.
• Make a fine powder from the dried flowers of pomegranate and use it as snuff.
• You can eat ripe figs (peepal) with honey or jaggery to check bleeding.
• Juice of pomegranate flower, powdered fruit rind of Chebulic myrobalan (harad), powder of lac (lakka/lakh) and gum of silk-cotton tree (deokapas)—act excellently in controlling bleeding. Take them internally with honey, milk, etc.
• Alum, camphor and oak-galls (majuphala) in equal quantities should be powdered and dropped in small doses into the nostril from where the blood is oozing.
• Make a decoction by boiling equal parts of coriander, adhatoda (adoosa) leaf, grape fruit, fruit-rind of aamla, whole plant of parpaatakam (taap-Jhad). Add sugar, and honey and drink half a cup, twice a day.
• Make a paste of 2 gm of young tender leaves of banana tree and mix with 20 gm of crystal sugar and 1/i liter of water. Take this mixture once a day regularly to control chronic bleeding from nose.
• Extract juice from crushed onion, doorva (doob) grass, Vitis quandrangularis (harjora) and shelled mango seeds. Use the liquid as nasal drops.
• Old rice, barley, green gram, lentil, bengal gram, red gram, crystal sugar, honey, sugarcane juice, cow ghee, banana, snake gourd, bitter gourd, cucumber, stem of lotus, leaves of neem, fruits of pomegranate, coconut, wood apple and grapes help to cure nose bleeds.
• Keep away from sour, salty, and pungent tastes as they aggravate the problem.
• Vasa avalehyam in the dose of 1 teaspoon dose mixed into a cup of cold milk taken orally thrice daily controls bleeding. Anu tailam in a dose of 2-5 drops in each nostril can stop bleeding.